


The Fourth of July

by neworldiscoverer



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 4th of July, F/F, Gen, Season 1, take me back to that chemistry, wtf did i do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 17:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11559999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neworldiscoverer/pseuds/neworldiscoverer
Summary: What if we got the Season 1 we really wanted?





	The Fourth of July

Regina can feel herself begin to press her lips together in a thin line. She thinks better of it, aware that the mannerism had started as an unconscious mimicry of her mother, and instead checks her lipstick in the handheld mirror she keeps in her handbag. As she tucks it back into the little pocket it belongs in, her eyes meet Henry's and she smiles at him but he barely holds her gaze long enough to notice. Regina's son is preoccupied, his bright eyes (they're never this bright for her anymore) hunting through the crowd of moving people. 

Her red lips part just enough to allow a thin sigh out while she checks her silver wristwatch. 

Regina had expected her to be late.

“Hey kid!” a voice shouts.

Regina quickly pivots to face in that direction. Henry is faster.

“Emma!” he yells in response. Regina has to actively hold him by the shoulder to keep him at her side while she purchases their tickets so they can enter the fairground.

Emma is wearing what suspiciously looks like yesterday's clothing. She is holding a pink puff of cotton candy suspended on a white cardboard stick.

“Hey Regina,” she says, and gives a slight wave with her free hand as they approach.

“Miss Swan,” Regina curtly replies.

“I got here early so I thought I'd grab some food while I waited,” Emma says, following Regina's eyes on her cotton candy.

“I'd hardly call that food,” Regina murmured, only just loud enough for the blonde to hear her. 

Henry's hand slips from Regina's grasp and he closes the gap between the women to give Emma a hug. The gesture is returned somewhat stiffly, like a person unaccustomed to positive physical contact might. Either that or Emma was just trying to keep the fair food from getting into Henry's hair. Regina watches their interaction like a hawk.

When Henry asks if he can have some of the cotton candy, Regina lets out another tiny sigh and relents. She has been doing a lot of that lately, relenting to her son's requests. She's been trying not to be the bad cop parent. She doesn't want to remain the villain in his story. The evil queen. His words, not hers.

Emma would be the fun parent, the good cop, if she were actually Henry's parent. But Emma is not Henry's parent. She gave that up long ago. Ten years ago, to be exact. Signed and sealed. This time that she was and had been spending with Henry for the past few days was solely because Regina had graciously allowed it. At this point, Regina had little of that left to spare.

What kind of person showed up at the doorstep of a complete stranger and expected roses? The title of birth mother means nothing and perhaps even less than that in a closed adoption like Henry's. 

Regina is still baffled as to how Henry got ahold of any contact information. She suspects Mr. Gold had a hand in it, but there is of course no proof behind her suspicions. He isn't supposed to know.

“I really appreciate you guys coming,” Emma says to Regina. Her hand is wrapped securely around Henry's as they walk and Regina has to force a smile into her face. It is more for Henry's sake than Emma's. She's pretty sure the blonde knows exactly how she feels about the entire situation.

Though there is fair food present, the celebration is a community event and not the carnival. The carnival doesn't come through Storybrooke. It's difficult to stop at a place that doesn't exist. Emma's arrival is an anomaly, as the clock tower on Main told everyone at the top of each hour...

Local vendors have tents and trucks set up with a grassy aisle between them. Besides the various food options, there is clothing and various crafts for sale. The 4-H group has organized pony rides, which Henry wistfully looks at while his mothers browse through vendor items.

He asks once if he can participate in the pony rides. Emma thinks it's smart of him to point out that the rides are free of charge. His request is immediately denied and Emma is surprised that there is no contest to the decree. She would have been a much more bratty child, given the opportunity. But there had been no such opportunities in Emma's childhood and now was not the time to linger on bygones. 

Not when there is an air show to see! The three of them make their way to the bleachers set up around an open field. Loud music plays while a plane and two helicopters fly by in a repetitive routine. Henry is caught up watching, ponies forgotten, and both women spend more time watching him than anything else. The boy leans forward from where he is seated between the two of them, tensing up each time the pilots maneuver closer.

Emma buys a pack of glow sticks after the show. She and Henry rig them together to make a necklace for him and a headband for her. Without asking, Emma fastens the last one around Regina's wrist as a bracelet. She apologizes when Regina tenses up before she realizes what Emma is doing. Their eyes lock while Emma carefully finishes connecting the ends of the purple glow stick.

The fireworks will start once it is dark, which on a summer night like this, could be as late as 9 o'clock, giving them plenty of time to kill. Henry fills the charged silence between Emma and his mother with an ample amount of chattering. He really only stops when they get homemade blackberry ice cream. It can be difficult to talk and eat at the same time.

Emma and Henry stretch out on the grass with their cones. “You sure you don't want to sit?” Emma asks, tipping her head up and squinting at Regina until the brunette moves to block the sun. She pauses to read Regina's disdainful expression. It takes her only a second or two to pull off her jacket and spread it out on the grass beside Henry. “Better?” she asks, nodding her head towards it. Emma guesses that Regina will be too polite to turn that down, even if she thinks Emma's jacket isn't the cleanest. She's correct.

“So I've got an interview,” Emma says conversationally once Regina has gotten settled down on the side of the hill with them. “A job interview,” she clarifies and looks directly at Regina when she receives no initial response. She swears that the other woman is making her wait for every answer, prolonging the time it takes to finish a spoonful of ice cream. Emma bites her tongue and prays for more patience and less aggravation.

“I heard,” Regina finally says.

“Oh.” Right. Small town. The Mayor. Duh. Of course Regina knew the list of applicants for the town sheriff opening. Emma puts on a bright smile and nods. “So do you think I'll get it?” She scans Regina's face for a crack. No such luck. She's got a really pretty nice face to look at though that's getting off topic.

“Surely you know I can't discuss that with you.”

“I do, I was just-” Well, at least Regina had almost smiled at her there. Probably because she was internally laughing at Emma, but hey, she'd take it.

“Just what, dear?”

Emma shook off the light shiver that rolled down her back at Regina's lowered tone of voice. “Just didn't think it would hurt to ask,” she mumbled and busied herself with polishing off the rest of her ice cream. 

At dusk they head to the bleachers, but the seats are already packed full. There are grassy open areas, but even those are filling with people who brought lawn chairs and picnic blankets.

“We didn't bring chairs!” Henry wails when it becomes apparent they won't be finding seating for all three of them.

“Easy kid, I have an idea. Follow me.” 

Regina takes Henry's hand when she exit into the parking lot, hot on the trail Emma is blazing. Henry slips his hand from hers so he can run forward to catch up with the blonde. Regina follows the colored light of their glow sticks to where Emma's car is parked. Emma produces a couple of questionably clean blankets from the trunk of the Bug and lays them across the hood.

Henry wastes no time in scrambling up there. Emma grabs onto the back of his shirt to keep him steady.

“Your Majesty,” she says, though not unkindly, and offers Regina a hand.

Regina gracefully steps onto the bumper and then onto the hood. It is a tight fit, but thankfully Henry is still small enough to not mind being somewhat wedged between them. He leans against Emma's shoulder when she joins them and Regina notices how she stiffens at first. Regina has to try very hard to not look wistful about the contact her son freely offers this stranger while continuing to villianize her. She is aware that Emma could rub it in with just a look and is grateful when she doesn't.

Patriotic music blasts from the main seating area and Regina is glad for their distance in the parking lot. The firework selection is great and in the light they produce she watches Henry and Emma's reactions. The childlike wonder that they share is quite obvious and Regina wonders if that has anything to do with Emma's upbringing. Or lack of one. Or lack of the memory of one.

The program goes on and the smoke being produced billows away from them on the night breeze. It's a warm summer evening, humid enough to make her skin sticky, but the breeze makes it bearable. Emma props her head up with her hand and glances at the family she is sharing the hood of her car with. Henry has shifted over to Regina's shoulder for a better angle of the fireworks and Regina's arm is lightly set around him, her fingers brushing against the hem of his shirt. Emma watches the gentle motion. Henry is certainly his mother's son and they share many of the same mannerisms. Now Emma thinks that might not be such a bad thing.

“I can walk you to your car,” Emma says when the evening has wound down. 

Apparently chivalry is one of her character traits. Regina finds it annoying though she supposes it is in Emma's blood. 

“That really won't be necessary.”

“Well, what if I want to?”

See? Annoying.

“Have it your way, Swan.” She's got Henry in her arms, the boy fighting sleep. He's almost too big for her to do this now.

“Do you want me to...?” Emma nods at him.

“Don't take this from me, too,” Regina says softly. There is a distinct lack of malice in her voice.

Emma doesn't persist further. She does, however, get permission to fish Regina's keys out of her purse and hold open the backseat door so Regina can put Henry inside.

“Thank you for the invitation,” Regina says when Emma's shut the door securely. She politely extends her hand.

Emma does not reciprocate. 

“Henry had fun.” Regina tucks her hand away.

“And you?”

“Well, I suppose it wasn't awful.”

“Didn't set the bar too high, did you?” Emma chuckles.

“Afraid not.” Regina's lips are pursed but Emma is pretty sure there's a smile in her eyes.

“Can I see you again?” Emma asks in a rush. Her brain feels like it is going very very fast. She wonders what a real smile would look like on Regina's face.

Regina is definitely caught off guard. Just when she thinks she should know all about this intruder, she goes and does something unexpected and most likely idiotic. “Me? Or Henry?” she asks.

“You.”


End file.
